Welcome to the Life After Exoneration Program!

The Life After Exoneration Program addresses the injustices faced by the wrongfully convicted and incarcerated after they are released from prison.

Exonerated after 27 years in prison, Earl Truvia and Gregory Bright were given a $10 check and a bag of clothes, and released barefoot.

Freedom Is Just The Beginning

In the United States today more than 2.2 million people are locked up in jails and prisons across America and, even by the most conservative estimates, thousands of them are factually innocent of the crime for which they were convicted. Recently, hundreds of these men and women have been released from prison, after providing the evidence of their innocence that convinced a judge to set them free.

After spending an average of 12.5 years in prison, which ruins their life, freedom for the exonerated often amounts to another painful chapter in their lives: a lonely and often dismal struggle to clear their name, find employment and housing, become financially self-sufficient, and build meaningful relationships with family and friends. Most exonerees receive no assistance for this difficult process – financial or otherwise – and face post-exoneration complications – like unexpunged criminal records, no credit or job history, and reliance on the goodwill of exhausted relatives and friends – that are difficult to solve. Left to fend for themselves, the professional help most exonerees need to begin to recover from the pain that endures after a prolonged, punitive and traumatic ordeal with the criminal justice system, is out of reach, and the exonerated become engulfed in a struggle to simply survive.

Ending these enduring injustices suffered by the wrongfully convicted and incarcerated after their release has been the focus of the Life After Exoneration Program since 2003. The Life After Exoneration Project has worked to provide the exonerated with the opportunity they deserve following years of undeserved incarceration in America’s punitive prison system: the opportunity to regain a foothold in life and pursue a life of physical, spiritual, psychological, social and economic well-being.

Our Work Includes

Promoting the right of the exonerated to financial compensation, legal remedies, and professional services that provide an opportunity to pursue a full and satisfying life following their release from prison and a life unencumbered by the lingering consequences of the wrongful conviction and imprisonment that destroyed their lives.

Providing technical services to service providers, lawyers and program managers on the unique experiences and needs of the exonerated and guidance on programmatic services that benefit the exonerated in their transition back to society.